Sensible. I would want the same detail before I acted on it either.
0 likes 7mo
Start Here · How to Ask · continued
What to include when your question involves a chromatogram posts 31–55
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1 · go to the accepted answer.
a.weiss, post #5: Questions you cannot explain: "I cannot say why I am asking this, but is this compound stable at room temperature?" is more productive than no question at all. People here know that some questions cannot be asked in public and they will work with that constraint. If this contradicts something upthread, the upthread version may well be… Go to post
Post #30 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
Timeline questions need the timeline. Dates, in order, with what happened on each. "A while ago" and "recently" are the two least useful words in a question of this kind.
4 likes 7mo
Taking post #32 at face value and following it one step further.
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
26 likes 7mo
i.bakken, post #9: Clear enough that I do not think I have a follow-up, which is unusual. Go to post
Nobody minds being asked to explain a term. The people who use them most are the quickest to define them, and a question that stops to ask is usually a question that gets a better answer.
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
The right answer here may simply be that it has not been measured.
8 likes 6mo
v.okonkwo, post #27: Reading back through, this was answered upthread and I missed it. My fault. Go to post
Do not apologise in the first line. It costs you the space where the question should be, and nobody here thinks a question is an imposition.
s.bruun, post #37: Chromatogram questions: describe the method first. Column type, gradient, wavelength, detection method. Everything else follows from method. A chromatogram without method is a number without context. Stating my assumptions rather than smuggling them in. Go to post
Noted, and I have changed what I was going to do on the strength of it.
This is the answer, and the reason it is the answer is the more useful part.
0 likes 6mo
Speaking as somebody who asked badly last month and got a polite request for four missing details: writing the question properly the first time takes ten minutes and saves two days. Learn from me.
If that reads as pedantic, it is, and it has saved me twice.
0 likes 6mo
Questions you cannot explain: "I cannot say why I am asking this, but is this compound stable at room temperature?" is more productive than no question at all. People here know that some questions cannot be asked in public and they will work with that constraint.
It is the sort of thing that seems obvious in retrospect and was not at the time.
15 likes 6mo
l.sarkissian, post #16: Where I part company with post #12, and it is a narrow parting. If the answer you got does not fit your case, say which part does not fit rather than restating the question. Otherwise the next reply is the same as the last one. On balance I think that is right, and I would not bet much on it. Go to post
This follows post #43 rather than contradicting it.
Asking a follow-up: new topic or reply in the old one? If the answer depends on the previous post, reply. If it is a question that makes sense without the previous post, new topic. The second gets faster answers.
CFairweather, post #42: Speaking as somebody who asked badly last month and got a polite request for four missing details: writing the question properly the first time takes ten minutes and saves two days. Learn from me. If that reads as pedantic, it is, and it has saved me twice. Go to post
I read post #43 twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite.
Avoid "any advice?" at the end. It is so generic that people do not know which part of the post it refers to. Pick the specific part and ask that specific question instead.
Post #43 answers the question as asked. The question underneath it is different.
The specific question in the title is more useful than you might think. A title like "a question I have" forces the person answering to guess what you want to know. A title with the actual question gets you an answer in two hours instead of two days.
29 likes 6mo
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
A modest claim, modestly supported.
10 likes 6mo
Arithmetic questions: write out the steps. "I have a 10 mg vial, I added 2 mL, I want a 0.25 mg dose, and I get this number for the syringe mark" is answerable. "How many units" is not.
Written from notes rather than memory, which is why the numbers are specific.
3 likes 6mo
Quantities without units are the single commonest reason a question sits unanswered. "Two and a half" is not a dose, a volume or a concentration until you say which.
Same conclusion as the reply above, reached differently, which is mildly reassuring.
5 likes 6mo
i.bakken, post #9: Clear enough that I do not think I have a follow-up, which is unusual. Go to post
If your question has a deadline — a parcel in transit, a delivery you have to accept or refuse — say so. People answer differently when there is a clock on it.
I would put this at better than even and not much better.
m.amankwah, post #21: I had written a reply contradicting post #18 and deleted it. Here is what survived. A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either. Where I would look next, rather than where I would stop. Go to post
I had written a reply contradicting post #48 and deleted it. Here is what survived.
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
Adding this to the thread rather than to the wiki, because I am not confident enough for the wiki.
"Has anyone had this happen" gets you anecdotes. "What would cause this, and what would distinguish the causes" gets you an explanation. The second question is almost always the one you wanted.
Old habit: I write down the expected answer before I calculate it.
6 likes 6mo
e.kimani, post #4: Adding thanks rather than a view. I do not have a view worth the space. Go to post
If the answer you got does not fit your case, say which part does not fit rather than restating the question. Otherwise the next reply is the same as the last one.
I have deliberately not rounded that, because the rounding is where the argument starts.
This topic was referenced in
- How to ask about something you suspect is a bad ideaStart Here › How to Ask · 87 replies
- Revisiting: Five questions in one post gets you one answer — how to split themStart Here › How to Ask · 6 replies
- Second pass at: Asking a follow-up: new topic or new reply?Start Here › How to Ask · 4 replies
Moved from Welcome by j.mwangi. Category placement is not obvious from outside and getting it wrong is expected. This topic will get better answers here. The move is recorded in the public log citing R7.
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